Salted caramel ice cream cake & almond crust

Hello everyone, it’s been quite some time since my last blog post! I hope you’re all enjoying the summer.

So far I’ve been working all summer, but I truly enjoy it. I’ve also spent a few days in London with food blogger and food writer Maria, I’ll write more about that in a later blog post.

We are working on some new projects, one of which is the launch of “Passion for Baking: The Magazine”. This will be a digital magazine published in English, and we’ll launch the first issue in November 2015.

I’ve also been working hard to finish my new baking book Manuelas bakebibel (“Manuela’s Baking Bible”) which will be my biggest book so far. The book contains more than 170 recipes, and the publisher is Gyldendal Forlag. I’m more or less done with it now, and those of you who follow @passionforbaking in Instagram have already seen many of the cakes and bakes from the book. I’m very pleased with the result, and I hope you’ll love it as much as I do. I’m also happy to tell you that it will be published in English as well, but the release date is not decided yet.

Back to the temptation of the day: a salted caramel ice cream cake with a delicious almond base.

Yesterday I made a cake and posted a photo on Instagram. Many of you asked for the recipe for the salted caramel frosting, so here it is. What I love about this frosting is that it doesn’t contain a lot of butter, and it is absolutely delicious. Use it as a frosting, or use it to make an ice cream cake like this one:

Almond base 15 cm/6 inches (4 servings)

• 3/4 cup (100 g) almonds
• just over 3/4 cup (100 g) powdered sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
• 2 egg whites

Bring out a 15 cm/6-inch springform pan. You can use a 20 cm/8-inch pan, but the finished cake won’t be as tall.

Line the base of the pan with baking paper.

The pan I use here is from Fat daddio’s, you can check out their website here: fatdaddios.com.

Pour the 2 egg whites into a clean mixing bowl. Whisk until they start to foam, then add the cream of tartar, if using. The cream of tartar can be omitted, or replace it with a few drops of lemon juice.

Add half the powdered sugar, then continue whisking until the meringue is nice and airy.

Put the almonds into a food processor and whizz until finely ground. Add the remaining half of the powdered sugar, and set aside.

My white kitchen machine is an Assistent original, and I can highly recommend it. It’s great for both cake batters and bread doughs.

Fold the almond and powdered sugar mixture into the meringue.

Pour the mixture into the pan and bake at 320 F/160 C for about 20-25 minutes.

Leave to cool completely while you’re making the salted caramel frosting.

Salted caramel frosting

• 2/3 cup (150 g) regular sugar
• 5 teaspoons (25 ml) water
• 3 cups (700 ml) heavy cream
• 6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter, diced
• pinch of kosher salt / sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Pour half the cream in a pan and heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Put the sugar in a small pan. Add the water and stir gently. If any sugar has made its way up the sides of the pan, brush it down again with a wet brush.

Place the pan on a medium heat, and boil until the mixture has a nice caramel color. Don’t stir, but keep a close eye on it. Swirl the pan sligthly to make sure the heat is evenly distributed.

I recommend cooking until the caramel color is quite dark, that way the flavor wil be more intense. Remove the pan from the heat.

Pour the warmed cream into the caramel, but not all at once. The mixture will bubble up quite vigorously. Put the pan back on the heat on a medium heat and add the diced butter. Add the vanilla and salt, and stir until everything is well blended.

Remove from the heat and pour in the last (not warmed) half of the cream. Stir well.

Pour the caramel into a glass bowl, jar or similar, and leave to cool before you place it in the refrigerator. Chill overnight, or for at least 8 hours.

If you have the time, place the mixing bowl and the whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes before you start mixing the caramel. If you do, the consistency will be so much better.

Bring out the caramel, give it a stir and pour 3/4 into the mixing bowl. Put the remaining 1/4 back into the refrigerator.

Mix the caramel for a few minutes, or until it thickens slightly. Don’t mix it too much if you’re using it to make ice cream. If you’re using it as a frosting, mix some more to give it even more volume. Don’t overmix, or the frosting will get grainy.

The caramel below has been mixed just enough to be used for ice cream.

I would have mixed a bit longer if using it as a frosting. It will thicken even more, and then get the perfect consistency for cake decoration.

To finish the ice cream recipe: pour half of the whipped salted caramel on top of the almond base in its pan.

Make croquant (praline), you can find the recipe here, and sprinkle over the caramel.

Pour the rest of the salted caramel on top, and freeze for at least 5 hours.

When you’re ready to serve the cake, whisk the remaining 1/4 of the caramel as described above, and use it for decoration. Here I’ve made small loops all the way around the edge of the cake. This is easier if the cake is placed on a cake turntable. Use a large tip/nozzle of your choice, and pipe out loops while you rotate the turntable. You can see my tutorial video on YouTube here, “How to make loops With frosting”.

Finish off with some extra crushed croquant (praline) or other sprinkles, if you like.

This frosting is perfect for cupcakes too, just remember to put the mixing bowl in the freezer before mixing. By doing that, your frosting will be more stable and easier to use.

I hope you are tempted.

I wish you all a great weekend, and a great summer.

Hugs from me to you.